Transcript Analysis & Insight Quarterly Review June 2012

A National Perspective
Alison Adams, Local Intelligence Team,
Office for Civil Society
This Government values the economic and social
contribution of Britain’s charities, social enterprises
and voluntary organisations, and the extraordinary
work individual people do to improve the lives of
others and of the most disadvantaged.
Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society, May 2010
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A vibrant civil society contributes to wider Government goals
£11.7
£24
BILLION
BILLION
The estimated contribution of
social enterprises to Gross
Value Added.
The voluntary sector
contribution to UK Gross value
added (GVA), a measure of
production or output similar to
GDP:
An estimated 765,000 people
work in voluntary sector
2.7% of UK
organisations...
There is
overlap
between
the two
The value of unpaid work
done by volunteers
measured at the national
median wage is worth:
workforce.
An estimated 800,000 people
work in social enterprises...
...this is
0.8% of
total UK
GVA
£5.45
The amount general
charities raise for
every £1 spent on
generating funds
£23.1
BILLION
£8.33
The potential GVA
created for every £1
invested by the
public sector into
social enterprises
Source: NCVO Almanac 2013
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The operating environment – challenges and opportunities
 Deficit reduction – changing patterns of public spending
 Changing patterns of giving – people looking to give time and money in
different ways
 Technology – opening up new ways of working
 Demographic changes – affecting demands on the sector
 Public expectations – trust, transparency
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The Role of the Office for Civil Society
 The Office for Civil Society (OCS), part of the Cabinet Office, works across
government departments and leads on a number of key Government
programmes for the civil society sector.
 Around 70-80 staff
 Reports to Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society
 Local Intelligence Team- eyes and ears of OCS at a local level
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Helping the sector in challenging times – priorities for OCS
Creating the conditions to make it easier to set up and run a voluntary,
community or social enterprise organisation; get more resources into the
sector; and make it easier for those organisations to do business with the
public sector.
Social action, encouraging the giving of time and money; and enabling
community-led solutions to the challenges communities face.
Social investment, helping to find alternative sources of capital to support
the social sector. Social ventures need access to finance. This means
increasing the supply of capital into the market, and supporting demand for
it, as well as getting rid of a range of legal and financial barriers faced by
social organisations
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Creating the environment for a strong sector
Some examples:
 £107m Transition Fund to support over 1,000 VCSE organisations delivering public services.
 Transforming Local Infrastructure - £30m of investment to transform support to frontline
civil society organisation; and around £50m to help not-for-profit advice providers to adapt
to the new funding environment .
 Supported the passage of the Public Services (Social Value) Act
 Creation of Commissioning Academy; working across Government on the design of major
public service contracts.
 Review of the Charities Act 2006 and Red Tape Review to remove unnecessary bureaucracy
facing VCSE groups; introduction of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) legal
form.
 Supported an independent review of sector skills and leadership.
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Promoting social action through the giving of time and money
Some examples:
 Social Action Fund - £20m – grant funding to expand proven models of social
action.
 Innovation in Giving - £10m – supporting innovative ideas with the potential to
create a step change in giving.
 Centre for Social Action - £36m – building on the above initiatives to build
programmes, campaigns and infrastructure to drive social action in support of
public service delivery.
 Recruited and trained 346 Senior Community Organisers and 1,536 Volunteer
Community Organisers.
 Supporting the redevelopment of the Do-it volunteering website.
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National Citizen Service (NCS)
 Launched in 2011, NCS is one of the Coalition Government’s flagship initiatives for building a
bigger, stronger society. It gives young people the chance to learn new skills and get involved in
their communities.
 NCS gives young people aged 16 and 17 the chance to undertake a programme of personal and
social development and community action that will promote:
 a more cohesive society by mixing participants of different backgrounds
 a more responsible society by supporting the transition into adulthood for young people
 a more engaged society by enabling young people to work together to create social action projects in their local
communities
 The NCS programme involves two weeks of residential activities.
 In 2012 over 26,000 young people took part, and over 30,000 so far in 2013. Ambitions to
expand significantly in future years.
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Growing the social economy and increasing social investment
Some examples:
 Launched £600m Big Society Capital (BSC) – a world-first social investment institution
 Launched a comprehensive £20m Investment & Contract Readiness Programme to
help social ventures to reach scale
 Accelerating the number of social impact bonds, through a dedicated centre of
excellence and £20m Outcomes Fund
 Progress on securing an effective tax and regulatory environment, and promoting the
UK as a global hub for social investment
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Effective, responsive local support is vital in a time of challenges and
rapid change
Transforming Local Infrastructure Programme Outcomes:
 Frontline civil society organisations can access a wider range of high-quality support,
networking and volunteering brokerage opportunities and value them more highly.
 There is stronger local leadership for civil society organisations which contributes to
better partnerships with local businesses and the local statutory sector.
 Infrastructure organisations, including volunteering infrastructure, are transformed
so that they are more efficient, effective and are able to learn and grow with less
dependence on state funding.
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Examples of TLI impact from across England
 Mergers: eg. in Suffolk ten local organisations have merged to form Community Action
Suffolk – a single infrastructure organisation for the county. Customers already seeing
benefits.
 Collaboration: eg. North Somerset, Derby have developed shared databases for improved
customer communications and knowledge-sharing (Leeds too); collaborative purchasing in
Wolverhampton.
 Charging models: eg. Nottingham, where a new HR and Financial Services consultancy
service has been established.
 Links to business and public sector: eg. Tameside where the Tameside4Good model is
helping to connect local businesses with good causes; Merton in London where TLI funded a
post at the Chamber of Commerce to establish strong links between the sectors.
 Innovation in service delivery: eg. Birmingham increasing use of online and peer support.
 New sources of income: eg. Tameside agreeing a deal to use dormant local trust funds.
Source: Navca
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Building on success and sharing the lessons
 Creating a national resource base to consolidate and share learning and good
practice from TLI projects
 Planning a series of events to share deeper understanding of successful approaches
 Continuing to work with Big Lottery Fund and Navca to build on TLI impact, including
areas that did not receive TLI funding
 Maintaining momentum locally through ongoing engagement and events like this
 Other initiatives ongoing: Big Assist; Innovation in Giving Volunteer Centre
programme (including Leeds)
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Alison Adams, Office for Civil Society
Mobile 07825 715802
alison.adams@cabinet-office. gsi.gov.uk